Being the hospitable sort, we immediately fixed him a drink before he could run for the exit door and started making with the small talk. Over the course of our very uncomfortable discussion, we discovered that this young scribe had just run across a name from the not-so-distant Queens past: former State Senator Frank Padavan.

And it was much to our delight for him to report that Padavan, known for being a feisty legislator, is still as ornery as ever.

Apparently, when a former constituent asked Padavan how he was enjoying retirement (he lost his seat to former Councilman Tony Avella last year), Padavan shot back, “It stinks! And besides, I didn’t retire, I got fired.”

How’s that for a fighting attitude? Something tells us we may not have seen the last of Frank Padavan in Queens politics.